World Markets Smashed

AP: Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 288.27, or 3.8 per cent, to 7,280.15, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 494.11 points, 3.9 per cent, to 12,317.46. Markets in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore shed about 3 per cent or more.

In South Korea, the Kospi plummeted 4.2 per cent to 1,018.81 as investors dumped the country’s currency, the won, which hit fresh 11-year lows on pessimism about the global economy and local fears of a dollar shortage…

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 all fell around 3 per cent or more. U.S. futures pointed to more pain on Wall Street Monday…

Oil prices weakened in Asian trade, with benchmark crude for April delivery down $1.69 at $43.10. Last week in the U.S., the contract fell 46 cents to settle at $44.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currencies, the dollar slipped to 97.23 yen from 97.57 yen, while the euro dropped to $1.2598 from $1.2668.